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Dave Grohl may be a wildly successful rockstar, but when he was first pursuing a career in music his father James Harper Grohl did not approve. The Foo Fighters frontman recalled his dad's reaction when he first joined a band in his new memoir The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music (via Sky News).
"My mother was always very supportive and encouraged me to follow my own path," he wrote. "My father was a conservative Republican speechwriter so I don't know that he understood a child like mine's mind."
"I think my father just imagined I would take the conventional route through life where I would go four years through high school, four years through college, getting a job, having a wife, having some children," Dave continued. "But I don't know if I ever considered that even when I was young. I don't think I ever considered that conventional route."
Though he may not have fully supported his son's decision, he did go see him play, and Dave thinks he was able to appreciate what he did after that. "I remember him coming to see us play at a punk rock club in Washington DC. And I think it was then that he recognized I was actually pretty good at what I did, as a drummer. He could appreciate a musician's craft," he wrote. "Even though we were playing this loud, fast, noisy, dissonant punk rock, I think that he could see that I wasn't bad at what I did."
Of course, Dave's career path ended up being a lucrative one, which relieved his dad, and now that he has kids of his own Dave understands his father's apprehension a little more.
"I have a 15-year-old that wants tattoos and piercings and s**t but I keep telling her just to wait. Hold off. Don't do it now. Just wait. You have got nothing but time," he wrote, referring to his daughter Violet. "So I understand the concern that he had when I told him I'm leaving school to jump in a s****y band and travel squats in Europe."
The Storyteller came out last week and Dave's currently on a mini book tour, where he's also been treating fans to musical performances that include him drumming along to Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." He wraps up the tour at the Ford in Los Angeles tonight (October 12) and tomorrow (October 13) before heading back on tour with the Foos.